


Booklover

by Crepuscolaria



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Al reads questionable literature, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bookshop, M/M, Meet-Cute, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:22:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28674411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crepuscolaria/pseuds/Crepuscolaria
Summary: Ed is apparently obsessed with the new bookstore, and the new bookstore owner, but this is a secret. Al is worried and has awful taste in literature. Or maybe not.
Relationships: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64





	Booklover

**Author's Note:**

> Little silly one shot to try and get my brain to unstuck, so I can get back to the 4/5 fictions I can't seem to finish ^^"
> 
> As always, if you spot mistakes please let me know, as English is not my native language!

Ed’s obsession with books is nothing new for Alphonse.  
To be fair, it is something they both share.  
But, lately, Al worries that finally his brother has gone too far and fried his brain.  
Every Saturday morning he wakes up, drinks a fuckton of coffee and goes to the new bookstore near the campus.  
Where he probably abuses drugs because he always comes back dazed and absent-minded.  
Al is perplexed.

\----------------------------------

Ed knows his little brother, who is unfairly high, is suspicious of his Saturday mornings at the bookstore.  
Theoretically he could reassure him easily. Practically he is too embarrassed to say a word.  
Because...Who the fuck decided that hiring a guy like that was a good idea?  
A bookstore is a place where one can buy books, sure, and think and be all about studying.  
It’s so counterproductive to have someone like that around.  
How is one supposed to concentrate when he struts about the shop in those gold wire glasses, perfectly tailored slacks and soft sweaters?  
He has the bone structure of the gods so why the fuck is he in a place that’s fifty percent paper, forty percent dust and ten percent nerds?  
It’s unfathomable.

Ed starts calling him TheBespectacledGorgeous in his head.  
BGorg in sh…as an abbreviation.  
He tries hard to avoid him.  
There’s a nice, placid woman with an impressive memory managing the till, so that is not a problem.  
He just needs to be on alert when perusing the shelves, because, apparently, BGorg role is marching down the aisles to make sure everything is in order, to help the lost souls who can’t find a tome and to be extremely distracting while doing both of the previous.  
He isn’t very good at the avoidance thing, though.  
The guy, the man actually, as he must be a few years older, finds him every time.  
Mind you, always at the worst moment.

Like that morning Ed couldn’t reach a book (despite his absolutely respectable height, thank you very much) and suddenly the dude was all up in his personal space, chest against his back, while he retrieved the infamous volume.  
He had his sleeves rolled up.  
Ed wanted to lick his forearms.  
It was the morning he found out he has a thing for wrist bones. Figures.

Of course, thanks to the many hits taken during years of sparring sessions with Al, he lives in a condition of perpetual concussion.  
There’s no other explanation for the way he tends to run his mouth in the presence of the man.

“Fuck off Bastard, who is so small he can only reach the bottom shelf?”

This is the first thing he ever told him.

After that he kept insulting him, while BGorg kept doing his best to smirk and be a very pretty irritating shit.  
He still manages just fine.

This morning though, Ed has yet to see him.  
So he relaxes just a teeny tiny bit, while looking for the book Al asked him to buy.  
Ed is almost sure his brother actually made the request as a test, to be sure he does come to the bookstore instead of running off somewhere unsavory  
He has just found it, when a velvety voice at his back freezes him.

“You don’t really want to buy that….”

He turns slowly, scowling at the man.  
And...he is wearing a henley. His collarbones are showing.  
Damn it. Maybe he has a whatever-bones thing. If said bones are BGorg’s.

“That is no fucking business of yours, bastard!”

He just arches one of his dark eyebrows, smirking.  
Ed shouldn't feel weak in the knees for so little. Maybe he should see an orthopedic.

“This is a bookstore, i sell books...this is literally my business.”

“Smartass.”

The guy looks unfazed and just makes grubby hands at the book.  
Ed grumbles but gives it to him.

“Why the hell do you even have it if you don’t think it’s worth reading?”

“People need something to stop their doors, or to press flowers with, while they dry…”

Edward is stunned by the massive dorkness of the man every single time.  
And by his everything-ness. But he will never admit that.

“What’s so bad about it…?”

He enquiries, curious.  
The cover seems innocuous enough. Just a big shield, a desert on the background, and, in the center, the title “Powerful Flames”.  
Ed has never heard of it, but Al is much more open in his literary exploration so it could be anything from a history book to a cookbook or whatever. He didn’t think to ask.  
The (hot) librarian’s eyes twinkle, like he knows exactly how this will go, before turning the book.

“Eric Delvard is the last addition to his team, but Colonel Ryan Stungham doesn’t imagine he will become so much more.” He reads on the back cover. “Fighting side by side to foil a conspiracy that could destroy their country, the two men will find themselves unable to escape a passion hot and burning like an hellish flame.”

He fucking whistles at the end with a wolfish smile, giving back the novel.  
Ed cannot believe the little shit asked him to buy...that.

“It is not...I was just…” He tries, feeling his face warm up. “My brother asked me…”

He takes the offending tome, looking a little panicked while BGorg advances.  
Ed takes a step back without thinking and finds himself trapped against the shelf. The romance novel shelf, his mind helpfully supplies, in the light of recent, humiliating, developments.

“Well...what do you say about this...you’re gonna buy that book for your brother, and you’re gonna give me your number, and your name, so i can call you later and try to convince you to go on a date with me…” Edward is not sure his hearing is functioning right. “And if you say yes, then I can finally show you what a real life burning passion is, instead of going half mad everytime you come here…”

The second part is nothing more than a whisper, but the man is in his space, leaning down to speak right in his ear.  
Ed swears the other guy’s lips brush intentionally against his earlobe.  
He feels his stomach contort like a circus artist, but he doesn’t whimper. He counts it as a victory.

\----------------------------------

When his brother comes back at home, smiling suspiciously with his head in the clouds, Al receives the book he asked for, wrapped in red paper with a ribbon.  
There’s a cardboard bookmark too. It’s nice, with an abstract painting printed on it.  
On its back, someone has added a message in a loopy, elegant handwriting.

“10% discount on every book if you keep sending your brother on errands, as a thank you, R.M.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3 Please let me know if you enjoyed it :)


End file.
